This article primarily discusses screen and audio works of fiction based on Thunderbirds, a British Supermarionation television series created by Gerry and Sylvia Anderson. It also covers imitations and references in other media.

Produced by AP Films (APF) for ITC Entertainment, the series has inspired various adaptations, imitations and parodies since it was first broadcast in 1965. It has been recognised for its enduring popularity, especially in the UK, and is widely regarded as the Andersons' most successful production.

Among other works, Thunderbirds has generated two film sequels, a TV anime and a live-action film adaptation. A remake, Thunderbirds Are Go, made using a combination of computer animation and live action, premiered in 2015 and ran for three seasons. Also in 2015, three new puppet episodes were created to mark the 50th anniversary of the original series.

For a discussion of Thunderbirds tie-ins – including novels and novelisations, comics and games – see Thunderbirds merchandise.

Audio plays

From 1965 to 1967, Century 21 Records released 19 Thunderbirds audio plays on 7-inch, 33 RPM, vinyl EP records (promoted as "mini-albums").Bentley 2008, pp. 100; 349. Three of these were original stories; the rest were re-tellings of TV episodes based on those episodes' soundtracks. In 2015, the original stories were adapted for the screen to mark the series' 50th anniversary (see #The Anniversary Episodes).

In April 2021, Big Finish Productions announced the launch of a new series of audiobooks based on the Anderson productions. The first of these, Thunderbirds: Terror from the Stars (an adaptation of the 1966 tie-in novel Thunderbirds by John Theydon) was released in May 2021. A second Thunderbirds story, Peril in Peru (based on the novel Calling Thunderbirds), was released in November 2021. Produced by Anderson Entertainment, the audiobooks feature Jon Culshaw as the voices of Jeff Tracy and Parker with Genevieve Gaunt as Lady Penelope.

Film sequels and adaptations

Thunderbirds popularity led APF to make two feature film sequels with financial backing by United Artists. The first, Thunderbirds Are Go, premiered on 12 December 1966;Bentley 2005, p. 97. the second, Thunderbird 6, and 29 July 1968.Bentley 2005, p. 99. Written and produced by the Andersons and directed by David Lane,Bentley 2005, p. 96.Bentley 2005, p. 98. both were critical and commercial failures.Bentley 2005, p. 41.Marriott, p. 159. During the early 1980s, several Thunderbirds episodes were combined to create three made-for-TV compilation films. In 2004, a live-action film adaptation, Thunderbirds, was released.

Compilation films

In the early 1980s, episodes from Thunderbirds and other Anderson productions were re-edited and combined to make a series of compilation films. These were produced by ITC's New York office under the supervision of writer David Hirsch and producer Robert Mandell.Bentley 2005, p. 117. Intended for broadcast in two-hour family timeslots, the format was branded "Super Space Theater" and sold to American cable and syndicated TV. Three Thunderbirds compilations – each 90 minutes long and re-edited with new, animated title sequences – were produced: Thunderbirds to the Rescue (a combination of "Trapped in the Sky" and "Operation Crash-Dive"),Bentley 2008, p. 361. Thunderbirds in Outer Space ("Sun Probe" and "Ricochet")Bentley 2008, p. 362. and Countdown to Disaster ("Terror in New York City" and "Atlantic Inferno"). Although the home video releases of the "Super Space Theater" compilations led to copyright issues that delayed the releases of the original episodes in their uncut forms, the UK versions proved to be a major commercial success for the distributor, Channel 5 Video.

Thunderbirds (2004)

A live-action film adaptation – Thunderbirds, directed by Jonathan Frakes and produced by StudioCanal, Universal Pictures and Working Title Films – premiered on 24 July 2004. All the Thunderbird machines seen in the film are based on the original designs, albeit with modern refinements. As BMW, the owners of Rolls-Royce, would not allow the production to use its brand, FAB 1 was redesigned as a modified Ford Thunderbird. The plot focuses on Alan Tracy, Tin-Tin and a newcomer – Brains' son, Fermat – who battle the Hood as he plots a gold bullion raid on the Bank of England.

The film was poorly received both critically and commercially,Cull 2009, p. 6. opening in eleventh place at the North American box office, grossing only £1.3 million in the UK on its opening weekend,Cull 2006 (August), p. 206. and drawing a negative response from fans of the TV series.Anderson, p. 163. Sylvia Anderson, who was a production consultant, endorsed the adaptation; in her memoirs, she expressed regret over the "negative vibes that were already being circulated before even a foot of film was being shot. But I suppose there was bound to be a backlash from genuinely passionate fans who jealously guarded the Thunderbirds legacy." According to Anderson, John Read, director of photography on the original series, responded positively at a test screening.Anderson, p. 167. By contrast, Gerry Anderson denounced the film as "the biggest load of crap I have ever seen in my life" and an "absolute, unmitigated disaster". Like Sylvia, he had been offered a consultant role, but declined after seeing the concepts for the re-imagined Thunderbirds machines;Cull 2006, p. 119. he also declined an offer of £750,000 to attend the premiere. He received no on-screen credit for his role in co-creating the TV series.

Plans for a live-action film had first been announced by ITC Los Angeles in 1993.Bentley 2008, p. 115. Originally due to be released in time for Christmas 1995, the film would have been directed by Renny Harlin, with Tom Cruise a possibility for the role of Scott Tracy.Bentley 2005, p. 121. Other actors under consideration included Bob Hoskins as Parker and either Patsy Kensit or Joanna Lumley or Emma Thompson as Lady Penelope. Following PolyGram's acquisition of ITC in 1995,Bentley 2005, p. 122. its subsidiary Working Title resumed development of the abortive project, with filming rescheduled to begin in August 1998.Bentley 2005, p. 123. By 1997, Karey Kirkpatrick had written a script and Peter Hewitt had been hired as director. Kristin Scott Thomas had been cast as Lady Penelope, while Pete Postlethwaite had yet to accept an offer to play Parker. The Baldwin brothers – Alec, Daniel, William and Stephen – had been suggested as Tracy brothers, with Sean Connery a possibility for the role of Jeff Tracy. Non-live action filming techniques were briefly considered, including computer and stop-motion animation. Gerry Anderson was initially offered a consultant role but was dropped from the production after Working Title decided that it already had a large enough creative team working on the project.

A mixture of budgeting concerns, disagreements over the writing and characterisation, and the poor box office response to Lost in Space and The Avengers (both adaptations of other 1960s TV series), caused the production to stall again. In 1998, PolyGram was purchased by Seagram and merged with Universal – a development that Sylvia Anderson, who had endorsed Hewitt's version, thought had a negative effect on the production: "It seemed Seagram ... cared nothing for this 'work in progress' and the whole Thunderbirds saga fell between the cracks."Anderson, p. 160. Frakes' version did not enter production until 2003.Anderson, p. 161. Anderson believed that the many delays to the live-action film were partly attributable to her and Gerry's divorce: "[Gerry's and my] parting broke up a winning combination … The two creators [of Thunderbirds] were going in different directions – the winning team was no more. How to entrust millions of dollars to only one of the duo? Which one? The name above the title or the character creator?"Anderson, p. 159.

TV adaptations and revivals In the 1970s, the Andersons sold what remained of their intellectual and residual rights to many of the Supermarionation productions, including Thunderbirds.Archer and Hearn, p. 222.Anderson, p. 111. Consequently, neither was able to assert creative control over the various Thunderbirds updatings that appeared in the 1980s and 1990s.Anderson, p. 88. Sylvia Anderson proposed continuing the adventures of Lady Penelope and Parker as an American-made spin-off series but remembered that ITC "dismissed [the idea] out of hand."Anderson, p. 151. In the early 1980s, Capital Radio DJ Mike Smith started a campaign to revive Thunderbirds.Archer, p. 60.

After Lew Grade left ITC in 1982, the ownership of the company changed hands three times (first to Robert Holmes à Court, then Alan Bond, then ITC New York)Archer and Hearn, p. 275. before both the company and its catalogue were acquired by PolyGram in 1995.Bentley 2008, p. 117. They subsequently passed to Carlton International Media in 1999, and then Granada plc (following a merger with Carlton) between 2003 and 2004.Bentley 2005: Foreword by Gerry Anderson, p. 5. The rights to the Thunderbirds brand currently reside with ITV Studios, the distributor of the 2015 remake.

Thunderbirds 2086

The 1982 Japanese anime Kagaku Kyuujo-Tai TechnoVoyager (English: Scientific Rescue Team TechnoVoyager) – exported to English-speaking countries as Thunderbirds 2086 – was based on Thunderbirds but with a stronger emphasis on futuristic technology. In this re-imagining, developed from a concept by Anderson titled Thunderhawks (but without his knowledge or approval),Bentley 2008, p. 363.Marriott, p. 188. the vastly-expanded International Rescue operates a fleet of 17 Thunderbird machines and is based within a massive arcology.Bentley 2005, p. 118. Distributed by ITC under the supervision of Robert Mandell, Thunderbirds 2086 ran to 24 episodes but was cancelled in Japan with six episodes still to air. In the UK, BBC1 broadcast 13 episodes in 1986.Bentley 2008, p. 364.

US re-edits

Beginning in February 1994, Fox aired Thunderbirds (styled as Thunderbirds USA or Thunderbirds Are Go!) on its Fox Kids programming block. ITC cut 13 episodes down to half of their original length and added new opening titles, synthesised music, and dialogue provided by American actors. The update was designed to capitalise on the success of Mighty Morphin Power Rangers and other popular children's programmes of the 1990s, besides acquainting American audiences with the premise of Thunderbirds before the release of the live-action film (then expected to appear in 1995). The series was not renewed for a second season and, to date, has never been broadcast in the UK.

In December 1994, the series reappeared as Turbocharged Thunderbirds on both Amazin'! Adventures and UPN.Bentley 2008, p. 116. Devised as a comedy, this re-edit kept most of the earlier alterations, although some of the episodes were renamed. It also added live-action scenes featuring a pair of Californian teenagers from the year 2096 – Tripp (Travis Wester) and Roxette (Johna Stewart-Bowden), nicknamed the "Hack Masters" – who are pulled into a parallel universe called "Thunder-World". There, they ally themselves with "simulated lifeforms" of International Rescue (the puppet characters) against the evil Atrocimator and his "head-honcho" the Hood (voiced by Tim Curry and Malachi Throne respectively), serving Jeff Tracy (voiced by Efrem Zimbalist, Jr.) from the orbital listening platform Hackmaster Command (Thunderbird 5).